Invar effect in fcc-FeCu solid solutions

©2004 The American Physical Society The work was partially supported by the Research Grants No. MAT2002-04178-C04 and No. MAT2000-1047 and by EU under IHP programme. We also thank the ILL and the CRG-D1B, together with ISIS for the allocation of neutron beam time, and the SCT at the University of Oviedo for the high resolution XRD facility. D.M.-B. thanks Spanish MCyT for additional support.
Both Cu and Fe metals, with face-centered cubic (fcc) crystal structures, are nonmagnetic. However, the substitution of Cu atoms by Fe in the fcc-Cu lattice leads to the formation of a random solid solution and the appearance of ferromagnetic order, with a value of the magnetic moment per Fe atom in a fcc environment even above 2µ_ß. This striking behavior is closely related to magnetovolume effects (Invar), which we have detected by means of lattice thermal expansion and magnetization measurements in FeCu alloys.
EU under IHP programme
MEC
Depto. de Física de Materiales
Fac. de Ciencias Físicas
TRUE
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